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Signs of the Times, Vol. 12, No. 28.

General Articles

Signs of the Times

Jul 22, 1886

International Tract and Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Jul 22, 1886

General Articles.

By Mrs. E. G. White

Prompt and Cheerful Obedience.

BY MRS. E. G. WHITE.
“Hath the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams.”
God, as the supreme ruler of the universe, has ever required prompt and unquestioning obedience. Even Christ, in the days of his flesh, was obedient to the law of the Father. Through the inspired psalmist he declares: “Sacrifice and offering thou didst not desire;” “burnt offering and sin offering hast thou not required. Then said I, Lo, I come; in the volume of the book it is written of me, I delight to do thy will, O my God; yea, thy law is within my heart.” But men are lulled to sleep by the deceptions of Satan, who suggests excuses and conquers their scruples, saying, as he said to Eve in the garden, “Ye shall not surely die.” They forget that the word of the Lord is steadfast, and that every transgression will receive a “just recompense of reward.”
The Lord made a covenant with Abraham and his seed, and gave them the right of circumcision as a token that he had separated them from all nations as his peculiar treasure. Had the descendants of Abraham faithfully kept this covenant, they would have escaped a great temptation to indulge in the sinful practices of other nations, and would not have been seduced into idolatry. By mingling with idolaters, they lost, to a great extent, their peculiar, holy character. To punish them, the Lord brought a famine upon their land, which compelled them to go down into Egypt to preserve their lives. The Lord suffered them to be oppressed by the Egyptians; but because of his covenant with Abraham, he did not forsake his people. He gave them an opportunity to turn to him in their distress, choose his righteous and merciful government, and obey his requirements.
The Lord heard the cries of his people in the land of their captivity, and delivered them, that they might be free to serve him. After they had left Egypt, and the waters of the Red Sea had been divided before them, he proved them, to see if they would trust in Him who by signs and wonders had delivered them from the house of bondage. But they failed to endure the trial. They murmured against God because of the difficulties in the way, and wished to return again to Egypt. Because of their dissatisfied, impatient, and rebellious spirit, they wandered for forty years in the wilderness. But the Lord was not chargeable with this delay in possessing Canaan. He was more grieved than they because he could not bring them into immediate possession of the promised land, and thus display before all nations his mighty power in the deliverance of his people. With their distrust of God, with their pride and unbelief, they were not prepared to enter Canaan. They would in no way represent that people whose God is the Lord; for they did not bear his character of purity, goodness, and benevolence.
The children of Israel forfeited the divine favor by their disobedience. Had they submitted to the authority of God, as a nation being governed by his judgments, and as individuals walking in his ordinances, they would have been a prosperous, holy, happy people. By their own perversity of spirit, the Israelites made it impossible for God to manifest his power in protecting them from the nations that opposed their passage to Canaan. When those who had been chosen of God as his peculiar people, who had witnessed so many displays of his greatness and the majesty of his power, imitated the iniquities of the heathen, their guilt was as much greater than that of the idolatrous nations as were their privileges. Not one of the good things that God had promised to his people would have failed, had they complied with the conditions upon which these blessings were to be bestowed; but God could not sanction sin, nor protect iniquity.
The history of the children of Israel is written for our admonition. We are probationers, as they were. God has given us his commandments, as he gave them to his people anciently. We may become strong in the strength of Israel’s God, if we will believe and obey his word. But if we are disobedient, doubting, and rebellious, as were the multitudes who fell in the wilderness, we shall be found unworthy to possess those mansions which Christ has gone to prepare for his people.
Through Samuel, God commanded Saul to go and smite the Amalekites, and utterly destroy all their possessions. But Saul only partially obeyed the command; he destroyed the inferior cattle, but reserved the best, and spared the wicked king. The next day he met the prophet Samuel, and greeted him with flattering self-congratulations. Said he, “Blessed be thou of the Lord; I have performed the commandment of the Lord.” But the prophet immediately responded, “What meaneth then the bleating of the sheep in mine ears, and the lowing of the oxen which I hear?”
Saul was confused, and sought to shirk responsibility by answering, “They have brought them from the Amalekites; for the people spared the best of the sheep and of the oxen to sacrifice unto the Lord thy God, and the rest we have utterly destroyed.” Samuel reproved the king, reminding him of the explicit command of God directing him to destroy all things belonging to Amalek. He pointed out Saul’s transgression, and declared that he had disobeyed the Lord. But Saul refused to acknowledge that he had done wrong, and again excused his sin by pleading that he had reserved the best of the cattle to sacrifice unto the Lord.
The king’s persistency in refusing to see and confess his sin grieved Samuel to the heart. He sorrowfully asked, “Hath the Lord as great delight in burnt offering and sacrifices as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams.” “Because thou hast rejected the word of the Lord, he hath also rejected thee from being king.” And for his transgression, the kingdom of Israel was rent from the hands of Saul, and given to a neighbor that was better than he, even David, the son of Jesse.
God is no less particular now than he was in ancient times. His eye is upon all his people, and over all the work of their hands. He will accept of no partial obedience; he will sanction no compromise with self. Nor will he suffer those who disobey his word to go unpunished. Though he may bear long with the transgressor, retribution will surely come at last.
God spoke to the children of Israel by the mouths of prophets and apostles; but there never was a time when men were more fully informed than they now are concerning his will and the course he would have them pursue. But will they profit by his teachings? Will they receive his reproofs and heed the warnings?
Disobedience hardens the heart and deadens the conscience of the guilty, and it also tends to corrupt the faith of others. That which at first looks very wrong to them, gradually loses this appearance, till finally they question whether it is really sin, and unconsciously fall into the same error. When a duty presents itself, we should not delay to meet its demands. Delay gives time for doubts to arise, unbelief creeps in, the judgment is perverted, the understanding darkened; and at length the reproofs of God’s Spirit do not reach the heart of the deluded one, who has become so blinded as to feel that they cannot possibly be intended for him or apply to his case.
Precious probationary time is passing, and few realize its worth. The golden hours are squandered in worldly pursuits, in pleasure, in absolute sin, while a preparation for eternity, the great object for which they were given, is entirely overlooked. The law of God is slighted and forgotten; yet its precepts are none the less binding, and every transgression will receive its merited punishment. For purposes of worldly gain men desecrate the Sabbath; yet the claims of that holy day are not abrogated or lessened. God’s command is clear and unquestionable on this point. He has peremptorily forbidden us to labor on the Sabbath; he has set it apart as a day sanctified to himself.
Those who would walk in the path of obedience to God's commandments will encounter many hindrances. There are strong and subtle influences that bind them to the ways of the world; but the power of the Lord can break these chains. He will remove these obstacles from before the feet of his faithful, humble children, or give them strength and courage to conquer every difficulty, if they earnestly beseech his help. All hindrances will vanish before an earnest desire and persistent effort to do the will of God. Light from Heaven will illuminate the pathway of those who, no matter what trials and perplexities they may encounter, go forward in the way of obedience, looking to Jesus for help and guidance.
Basel, Switzerland.

“NOTHING TO DO.”

NOTHING to do! in this world of ours, Where weeds spring up with fairest flowers, Where smiles have only a fitful play, Where hearts are breaking every day!
Nothing to do! Thou Christian soul, Wrapping thee round in thy selfish stole, Off with the garments of sloth and sin; Christ thy Lord hath a kingdom to win.
Nothing to do! There are prayers to lay On the altar of incense, day by day. There are foes to meet within and without; There is error to conquer, strong and stout.
Nothing to do! There are minds to teach The simplest form of Christian speech; There are hearts to lure with loving wile, From the grimmest haunts of sin’s defile.
Nothing to do! There are lambs to feed, The precious hope of the church’s need; Strength to be borne to the weak and faint; Vigils to keep with the doubting saint.
Nothing to do! and thy Saviour said, “Follow thou me in the path I tread.” Lord, lend thy help the journey through, Lest, faint, we cry, “So much to do.” —Sel.

The Coming Christ.

By Samuel T. Spear

Jesus of Nazareth began his public ministry at the age of thirty, pursued it for some three years thereafter, died on the cross under the decree of Pontius Pilate, rose from the dead on the third day, and after forty days left the earth by a miraculous ascension into Heaven. The Bible follows this Jesus into Heaven, and presents him to us as there seated on the right hand of the Majesty on high, as the "High Priest of our profession."
The Bible, however, does not stop with this revelation of Christ in Heaven. It goes further than this, and extends our view to a period in the great future, when this Prince and High Priest in Heaven, this Saviour of sinners, this Man divine, will return, personally and visibly, to our world, and states the object thereof with a general outline of the facts and events that will be connected with that return. The revelations of God's word on this point startle the mind with the overwhelming and awful grandeur. No one believing them, can read them, and be unimpressed by them.
The ascension of Jesus into Heaven occurred at Bethany in the presence of "the apostles whom he had chosen," who saw him as he went up, and to whom, "while they looked steadfastly toward Heaven," two angels, appearing as men, spake the following words: "Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into Heaven? This same Jesus, which is taken up from you into Heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into Heaven." Jesus had scarcely vanished from their sight when this announcement greeted their ears, assuring them that he would come back again to this world, and that the manner of the coming would be like that of his departure, but not informing them when or for what purpose he would thus return to earth. It was enough for them to know that he had left this world by ascension into Heaven, and that he had not left it forever.
Peter, who was an eye-witness of the scene, a hearer of what the angels said, and a believer in the fact that Jesus had gone into Heaven, and was there, soon after referred to him in the following terms: "Whom the Heaven must receive until the times of restitution of all things which God hath spoken by the mouth of his prophets since the world began." The Rev. Mr. Barnes, in his Notes on Acts, understands the word here translated "restitution," to mean the completion, the filling up, the consummation and fulfillment of prophecy relating to the whole Messianic plan of God on earth. The word "until" suggests that, when this shall have been accomplished, Jesus would again personally revisit our world, not necessarily to remain here, but that he would appear here a second time. Prior to this he would be in Heaven, whither he had just ascended.
Christ himself, at different times, and on various occasions, used language calculated, and, indeed, intended, to convey the idea of both his departure from and his subsequent return to this world. The following passages illustrate this statement:—
"What and if ye shall see the Son of man ascend up where he was before?" "I go to prepare a place for you; and if I go to prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself, that where I am there ye may be also." "I will not leave you comfortless; I will come unto you." "If ye loved me, ye would rejoice because I said, I go unto my Father." "But now I go my way to Him that sent me." "It is expedient for you that I go away; for if I go not away the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart I will send him unto you." "A little while, and ye shall not see me; and again, a little while, and ye shall see me, because I go to the Father." "I came forth from the Father, and am come into the world; again I leave the world and go to the Father."
These passages contain clear intimations of Christ's departure from this world, as subsequently accomplished by his death, resurrection, and ascension into Heaven; and some of them also contain intimations that he would come back again and receive his followers unto himself. Both ideas were on his lips, especially toward the close of his public ministry.
The twenty-fifth chapter of Matthew records the answer which Jesus gave to the question of his disciples in respect to the end of the world. These are his words: "When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory; and before him shall be gathered all nations; and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats; and he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left." The sheep here represent the righteous; and to them Christ will say: "Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world." The goats represent the wicked; and to them Christ will say: "Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels." The sequel is thus stated: "And these [the wicked] shall go away into everlasting punishment; but the righteous into life eternal."
Here is a coming of Christ declared by himself in words applicable, not to the destruction of Jerusalem, but only to the final and general Judgment, as elsewhere taught in the Bible. This coming is connected with that Judgment. Christ places himself on the judgment throne. Paul tells us that God "hath appointed a day in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained, whereof he hath given assurance unto all men in that he hath raised him from the dead." He also says that we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad. What Christ says about his coming, the gathering of all nations before him, and his adjudication upon their character and destiny, not only associates that coming with the final Judgment, but corresponds with what the apostle says. He will at last come, not to die for sinners, and not to preach to them a gospel of salvation, but to judge the world in righteousness. God has appointed the day or time for this Judgment; and, if so, then he has appointed the time of the coming.
The same apostle, alluding, in his first epistle to the Corinthians, to the resurrection of the dead, says that "as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive," and then adds: "But every man in his own order: Christ the first fruits; afterward they that are Christ's at his coming." The order here stated is the resurrection of Christ first, as "the first fruits" or pledge of that of his people, and then their resurrection "at his coming." This connects the resurrection with the second coming of Christ. At this coming his own words will be fulfilled: "Marvel not at this; for the hour is coming in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice, and shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation."
Paul, in his first epistle to the Thessalonians, refers, in the following manner, to the second coming of Christ and to the events connected therewith: "For this we say unto you by the word of the lord, that we [Christians then living] which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord, shall not prevent [precede] them which are asleep. For the Lord himself shall descend from Heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God; and the dead in Christ shall rise first. Then we [Christians then living] which are alive and remain, shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air; and so shall we ever be with the Lord." Here the fact of Christ's descent from Heaven is distinctly stated; and with it is connected the resurrection of the righteous dead. And also the change in respect to Christians then living. Christians, whether the risen dead or those then living, will meet the Lord in the air, and will ever be with the Lord.
The same general thought was in the mind of the apostle when, in his epistle to the Philippians, he said: "For our conversation [citizenship] is in Heaven, from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself." What Paul looked for, as he stated, is evidently the second coming of Christ, or his descent from Heaven; and with this event he associated the change of "our vile body," of which, in his first epistle to the Corinthians, he speaks as taking place "in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump," "when the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed." Wonderful language, and wonderful thoughts expressed by it.
So, also, in Paul's second epistle to the Thessalonians, we have these words: "Seeing it is a righteous thing with God to recompense tribulation to them that trouble you, and, to you who are troubled, rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from Heaven with his mighty angels, in flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his power, when he shall come to be glorified in his saints, and to be admired in all them that believe [because our testimony among you was believed] in that day." The "day" here mentioned is the day or time "when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from Heaven," "when he shall come to be glorified in his saints," and when he will "recompense" rest to the righteous and punishment to the wicked—a glorious day to the one, and a wrathful day to the other. The reference here is manifestly to the second coming of Christ, and to the events, as here set forth, that stand connected with that coming. He will then "descend from Heaven," and reappear in our world, attended by "his mighty angels." There will be no doubters then as to the second advent. The good and the bad will alike understand that Christ has come. —Samuel T. Spear, D. D., in Independent.

Little Temptations Overthrow Christians

By Lee

Slippery places may fling up the heels of great giants, and little temptations may overthrow well-grown Christians.—Lee.

True Gentlemanly Behavior

The appellation of gentleman should never be affixed to a man's circumstances, but to his behavior in them.

Obituaries.

By R. F. Cottrell

THERE is a remarkable difference between Bible obituaries and those of the present day. We quote a few obituary notices from the Bible as specimens: “And all the days that Adam lived were nine hundred and thirty years; and he died.” “So Moses the servant of the Lord died there in the land of Moab, according to the word of the Lord. And he buried him in a valley in the land of Moab, over against Beth-peor; and no man knoweth of his sepulcher unto this day.” “Now Samuel was dead, and all Israel had lamented him and buried him in Ramah, even in his own city.” In Heb. 11, the apostle speaks especially of the faithful of the times then past. In this chapter we find the following, which we may call a model obituary on the occasion of the death of the faithful: “Died in faith, not having received the promises.”
The following is extracted from a modern obituary, seemingly Christian: “On Saturday, when apparently dying, her sister said to her, ‘Lucy, if the angels come for you, and you see father and mother, let us know it if you can.’ She said she would. In a few hours she revived again. Sunday morning she said in a whisper, ‘Yes, yes, they have come.’ Her sister asked, ‘Who have come?’ ‘Father, mother, and all of them! Glory! glory! glory!’ . . . And now Jesus has come and taken her to himself. . . . The clouds at length separated; Jesus came as he promised; and her disembodied spirit ascended to the church triumphant.”
What a contrast between this and the utterances of the Bible! Does the Bible teach that dead men and women are angels?—No. But Jesus promises the righteous that they shall be “as the angels,” or “equal unto the angels.” When?—After they are “accounted worthy” of a part in the world to come, and are raised from the dead. Luke 20:35, 36. When do the angels come for the people of God?—When Jesus comes again and raises them from the dead. Matt. 24:30, 31. When does Jesus take them to himself?—At his second coming. John 14:1-3; 1 Thess. 4:16, 17. In what clouds does Jesus come again? and how?—In the clouds of heaven, and as he went away. Matt. 24:30; Acts 1:9-11. When do the saints join the church triumphant?—When they can shout victory over death and the grave, at the resurrection. 1 Cor. 15:52, 55.
Where is the text of Scripture that speaks of disembodied spirits? It is not. Such an entity is nowhere recognized in the Scriptures. What consolation do the Scriptures offer to those who mourn for the dead in Christ?—The resurrection from the dead, at the second personal coming of Christ. 1 Thess. 4:13-18. What to pious mothers who mourn the death of their infant children?—That “they shall come again from the land of the enemy.” Matt. 2:16-18; Jer. 31:15, 16. Is there a text in the Bible which contradicts the harmonious teaching of all those referred to above?—There is not. What, then, of the case of the rich man and Lazarus?—By a figure the dead are represented as living and speaking, as in other texts of Scripture. Isa. 14:9-11; Eze. 32:21, 27. The hell of the rich man and Lazarus is the hades of the Greek language and the sheol of the Hebrew, in which place or state inspiration has positively affirmed that “there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom.” Eccl. 9:10.
R. F. COTTRELL.

Christian Fellowship.

By Methodist Recorder

THERE can be no Christian fellowship among those who are influenced by selfish aims and ends of life; for selfishness is opposed to all fellowship. To bring any of the children of men into the enjoyment of Christian fellowship, the corrupt heart—the seat of selfishness—must be changed, and the soul renewed by the converting grace of God, and conformed to his image. In other words, the soul must first be in fellowship with Christ before we can be in fellowship with those who are Christ’s. Being in fellowship with Christ, we are one in him, and consequently in harmony and fellowship with those whom he has redeemed by his blood; therefore Christian fellowship embraces with its arms of common sympathy, love, and confidence, all the true followers of Christ.
They walk together in the same path. The apostle teaches us that "if we walk in the light as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another." Christians walk in the light of God. The light of God is as necessary to our spiritual enjoyment and development as the light of the natural sun is to the warmth and happiness of man on earth. We seek it and abide in it, just as we seek the light of the natural day rather than the darkness of a dungeon. We walk in the light of God’s countenance.
Our path is a pathway of light. In it there is no darkness. As we walk in this pathway, we enjoy communion with the same Saviour, and have fellowship in the same light. And the apostle tells us that by walking in the light of God, "we have fellowship one with another." This fellowship springs from "walking in the light." It is therefore a fellowship of light. But light means, in Scripture language, truth and holiness, and the light of God, the holiness and truth of God. To walk in the light, as he is in the light, is, therefore, to be holy as he is holy; and thus it is that "our fellowship is with the Father and his Son Jesus Christ." This fellowship makes all Christians like to each other, for they are "partakers alike of the divine nature." They all have the mind of Christ, and the spirit of Christ dwells in them. They cannot but be in fellowship with one another.—Methodist Recorder.

Establishment of the Vandals in Africa

By J.

WHEN Christ abides in the human heart, he is in it as an immortal hope.—Pres. Culross.

Establishment of the Vandals in Africa.

GIBBON speaks above, of "the invitation which" the Vandals "received from Count Boniface." The way in which that invitation was brought about was this: In the narrative which we have given of the Visigoths under Adolphus the successor of Alaric, Placidia will be remembered as the sister of the Emperor Honorius and the wife of Adolphus. After the death of her husband, she was restored by Wallia, about A. D. 416, to her brother Honorius in exchange for 600,000 measures (about 150,000 bushels) of wheat. After her return she was given by Honorius, much against her will, in marriage to Constantius, a Roman general, and became the mother of a daughter—Honoria—and a son, who, at the age of six years, and under the title of Valentinian III., succeeded to the throne of the western empire. Honorius died Aug. 27, A. D. 423, and the vacant throne was usurped two years by John the Secretary. At this time Placidia was at Constantinople under the protection of her nephew Theodosius the Younger, and Theodosius resolved [A. D. 425] to place Valentinian on the throne of the West. Valentinian being only six years old, and his father being dead, upon Placidia was bestowed the important office of regent during the minority of her son; this authority she exercised twenty-five years—from A. D. 425 to 450.
"Her armies were commanded by two generals—Ætius and Boniface—who may be deservedly named as the last of the Romans. Their union might have supported a sinking empire; their discord was the fatal and immediate cause of the loss of Africa."—Dec. and Fall, chap. 33, par. 4.
Count Boniface was in command in Africa; Ætius commanded the troops of the empire in Italy; and he concocted a conspiracy to destroy Boniface.
"Ætius possessed an advantage of singular moment in a female reign; he was present; he besieged, with artful and insidious flattery, the palace of Ravenna, disguised his dark designs with the mask of loyalty and friendship, and at length deceived both his mistress and his absent rival, by a subtle conspiracy which a weak woman and a brave man could not easily suspect. He had secretly persuaded Placidia to recall [A. D. 427] Boniface from the government of Africa; he secretly advised Boniface to disobey the Imperial summons; to the one he represented the order as a sentence of death; to the other he stated the refusal as a signal of revolt; and when the credulous and unsuspectful Count had armed the province in his defense, Ætius applauded his sagacity in foreseeing the rebellion which his own perfidy had excited. A temperate inquiry into the real motives of Boniface would have restored a faithful servant to his duty and to the republic; but the arts of Ætius still continued to betray and to inflame, and the Count was urged by persecution to embrace the most desperate counsels. The success with which he eluded or repelled the first attacks, could not inspire a vain confidence, that, at the head of some loose, disorderly Africans, he should be able to withstand the regular forces of the West, commanded by a rival, whose military character it was impossible for him to despise. After some hesitation, the last struggles of prudence and loyalty, Boniface dispatched a trusty friend to the court, or rather to the camp, of Gonderic, king of the Vandals, with the proposal of a strict alliance, and the offer of an advantageous and perpetual settlement."—Id.
These were the events and this "the invitation" that brought the nation of the Vandals into Africa. The treachery of Ætius was discovered shortly afterward; but the mischief was done, and it was too late to remedy it.
"The long and narrow tract of the African coast was filled with frequent monuments of Roman art and magnificence; and the respective degrees of improvement might be accurately measured by the distance from Carthage and the Mediterranean. A simple reflection will impress every thinking mind with the clearest idea of fertility and cultivation. The country was extremely populous; the inhabitants reserved a liberal subsistence for their own use; and the annual exportation, particularly of wheat, was so regular and plentiful that Africa deserved the name of the common granary of Rome and of mankind. On a sudden the seven fruitful provinces, from Tangier to Tripoli, were overwhelmed by the invasion of the Vandals, whose destructive rage has perhaps been exaggerated by popular animosity, religious zeal, and extravagant declamation.
"War, in its fairest form, implies a perpetual violation of humanity and justice; and the hostilities of barbarians are inflamed by the fierce and lawless spirit which incessantly disturbs their peaceful and domestic society. The Vandals, where they found resistance, seldom gave quarter; and the deaths of their valiant countrymen were expiated by the ruin of the cities under whose walls they had fallen. Careless of the distinctions of age, or sex, or rank, they employed every species of indignity and torture to force from the captives a discovery of their hidden wealth. The stern policy of Genseric justified his frequent examples of military execution; he was not always the master of his own passions, or of those of his followers; and the calamities of war were aggravated by the licentiousness of the Moors and the fanaticism of the Donatists.
"The court and the people were astonished by the strange intelligence, that a virtuous hero, after so many favors and so many services, had renounced his allegiance, and invited the barbarians to destroy the province intrusted to his command. The friends of Boniface, who still believed that his criminal behavior might be excused by some honorable motive, solicited, during the absence of Ætius, a free conference with the Count of Africa; and Darius, an officer of high distinction, was named for the important embassy. In their first interview at Carthage, the imaginary provocations were mutually explained; the opposite letters of Ætius were produced and compared; and the fraud was easily detected.
"Placidia and Boniface lamented their fatal error; and the Count had sufficient magnanimity to confide in the forgiveness of his sovereign, or to expose his head to her future resentment. His repentance was fervent and sincere; but he soon discovered that it was no longer in his power to restore the edifice which he had shaken to its foundations. Carthage and the Roman garrisons returned with their general to the allegiance of Valentinian; but the rest of Africa was still distracted with war and faction; and the inexorable king of the Vandals, disdaining all terms of accommodation, sternly refused to relinquish the possession of his prey. The band of veterans who marched under the standard of Boniface, and his hasty levies of provincial troops, were defeated with considerable loss; the victorious barbarians insulted the open country; and Carthage, Corta, and Hippo Regius were the only cities that appeared to rise above the general inundation.
"The generous mind of Count Boniface was tortured by the exquisite distress of beholding the ruin which he had occasioned, and whose rapid progress he was unable to check. After the loss of a battle, he retired into Hippo Regius, where [A. D. 430, May] he was immediately besieged by an enemy who considered him as the real bulwark of Africa. The maritime colony of Hippo, about two hundred miles westward of Carthage, had formerly acquired the distinguishing epithet of Regius, from the residence of Numidian kings; and some remains of trade and populousness still adhere to the modern city, which is known in Europe by the corrupted name of Bona. The military labors and anxious reflections of Count Boniface were alleviated by the edifying conversation of his friend St. Augustine, till that bishop, the light and pillar of the Catholic church, was gently released [A. D. 430, Aug. 28] in the third month of the siege, and in the seventy-sixth year of his age, from the actual and the impending calamities of his country."—Dec. and Fall, chap. 33, par. 9, 8, 10.
(Concluded next week.)

Hunger and Thirst.

A STATE of complete satisfaction is not by any means a desirable attainment. It is not found among scriptural beatitudes. On the other hand, it was our Lord himself who said: “Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst.” Thus the beatitude is one of dissatisfaction. It is mind-hunger that impels the student in all his quests and researches; if he becomes satisfied with his knowledge, his progress is at an end. Satisfaction with attainments in any sphere marks the limit of attainment. Hunger of soul, the desire for more of God, for holier life, for deeper communion, for fuller transformation of character, is the only hopeful state; the want of these desires tells of a perilous spiritual state.
Longing is the heart’s cry for greater nearness to God. It is the hand held out empty for Heaven to fill. It is the very spirit of faith impelling always to new ventures, to more heroic struggles. Satisfaction sits down at the foot of the mountain, while longing boldly climbs to its summit. Satisfaction is content to stand on the shore and wonder what is beyond; longing pushes out upon the unpathed waters, and discovers great continents. It is longing alone that makes us grow. It transforms us into its own spirit. What we long for intensely and continuously, we become. It is like the lamp in Goethe’s tale, which, placed in the fisherman’s rude hut, changed it to silver. The lamp of heavenly longing, lighted in our hearts and burning there, will transform our poor, dull earthly lives into the beauty and brightness of Heaven.—S. S. Times.

The Humble Exalted.

God chooses the humblest instruments. He passes by the tempests, and waters the fields and gardens with his imperceptible dew. He passes by the great elephant, and bestows the hues of sapphire and amethyst upon the tiny humming-bird. He passes by the lofty pine and huge elm tree, and lavishes blossom and perfume on the violet. All history teaches the same truth. Moses was the son of a poor Levite; Gideon was a thresher; David was a shepherd-boy; Amos was a herdsman; the apostles were ignorant and unlearned; Zwingle was a shepherd; Melanchthon, the great theologian of the Reformation, was an armorer; Luther was the child of a poor miner; Fuller was a farm servant; Carey, the originator of the plan of translating the Bible into the language of the millions of Hindustan, was a shoemaker; Morrison, who translated the Bible into the Chinese language, was a last-maker; Dr. Milne was a herd-boy; Adam Clarke was the son of Irish cotters; John Foster was a weaver; Jay, of Bath, was a herdsman.—Sel.

Forsaking All for Christ.

THE following facts from a letter to the Missionary Herald, relative to the willingness of converts from heathenism to give up their foolish ornaments, should put to shame very many professed followers of the Saviour in Christian lands:—
"Most of those who are now with us at this station have given up tobacco, hemp, drink, and ornaments, and say they have left forever their heathen friends with all their customs, and want to build houses on our premises, and learn and practice the customs of God's people. Should you be in one of our meetings and hear them pray and testify, you might think we have had a day of Pentecost. But you should know the whole truth. Converts here have just as much of the earthly element clinging to them as anywhere, and among the few chosen ones there are doubtless the many who were merely called and who may only endure for a time, as is the case everywhere in the world. Among them all I do not see yet much poignant conviction of sin. But we have certainly great reason for encouragement in the fact that they show a disposition to obey the truth as fast as they receive it."
"One instance of this will be enough to show what I mean. At our meeting at Mongwe I had been preaching about how the early Christians brought all their wealth and laid it down at the apostles' feet. They—that is, our people here—professed to have given up tobacco, beer, etc., but that was not enough; they must consecrate all to the Lord and not keep back anything. Now what had they left that they would not give up? With scarcely a moment's forethought as to what I was going to do, but observing their foolish ornaments of iron and brass on their ankles and wrists and dangling from their ears and around their necks, I asked who was willing to lay them down, hardly supposing that one would consent upon the spot. But immediately they began to strip them off."
"Some of these ornaments were grown into their bodies in such a way that we had to send for instruments to cut them off. There were charms of snake skins and bones, to part with which, most natives think, is next to parting with their lives. But, excepting the girls, not one of those who professed Christ went out of that house wearing any kind of ornament. Other instances might be given of this spirit of willingness to put the truth in practice at once. But what they all now need most is not sudden outbursts of self-denial, but steady instruction and discipline in almost everything that goes to make up Christian manhood. It seems to me as they now are they are as impressible as the clay in the potter's hand."
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